Open Networking Evangelism

Today I am proud to announce that I have joined the Big Switch team as an Open Networking/SDN Evangelist. Big Switch is a leader in the SDN space and their recent releases of Big Cloud Fabric 3.0 and Big Monitoring Fabric (read Rob Coote’s impressions from NFD10) are significant accomplishments.

I believe the free flow of information and ideas is key to the development of the networking community. Big Switch’s focus on the Open Network Linux, Indigo and Floodlight open source projects fit well with my vision.

Tracing back to my days of BBSing, I have focused on being open and have been willing to share information and ideas. I published my first newsletter, DSiOW (DOS Sysops in an OS/2 World) back in 1994, when I ran virtualized DOS based BBSs in OS/2 DOS emulators. The goal of my newsletter was simple, help others to run better systems by sharing information on how I and others setup their OS/2 systems.

Moving to more recent activity, I helped found the Network Device Education Foundation (NetDEF) and made Router Analysis and SDN Testing projects under NetDEF, continuing my goal of providing free, open data about networking devices and software.

First and foremost: working with the community surrounding Open Network Linux (ONL), a key part of the Open Networking ecosystem. Open Network Linux is a free, open source Network Operating System (NOS) that runs on Open Networking hardware from both branded vendors (e.g. Dell), “whitebox” switches from Accton, Quanta and many other devices.

Secondly, I will be helping Big Switch to extend its thought leadership in the SDN space by working with the open networking community and industry to refine and focus the way that Big Switch interacts and supports the open networking community.

Third, I will be working with customers explaining the value Big Cloud Fabric and Big Monitoring Fabric, products that are built on top of Big Switch open source initiatives.

Outside of Big Switch, I will continue to serve as President of the Board of NetDEF and on the ONF Software Leadership Council among other projects.

I am excited to join the fantastic team at Big Switch and help move Open Networking forward.